Bay Area officials voted this morning on a $76-million dollar refurbishment to the Golden Gate Bridge, including funding for suicide prevention nets on either side. Could 20-foot nets on both sides of the bridge have a significant impact on suicide prevention? Also, Is 2016 the right year for marijuana legalization ballot initiatives? Then, it's filmweek on AirTalk!
Should the Golden Gate Bridge have suicide prevention nets?
Bay Area officials voted this morning on a $76-million dollar refurbishment to the Golden Gate Bridge, including funding for suicide prevention nets on either side. An estimated 1,600 people have committed suicide jumping from the bridge since 1937, including a record-high 46 people in 2013.
Proponents of the prevention net say that potential jumpers may be deterred or even saved -- critics of the funding say that this won’t stop people from dying on the bridge or in other ways, and that the net is a costly and aesthetically displeasing solution. In the past, officials have voted against raising the bridge’s railings.
Could 20-foot nets on both sides of the bridge have a significant impact on suicide prevention? Does this project warrant the costs and traffic delays? What are the best ways for San Francisco to address the problem of suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge, aside from netting?
Guests:
Senator Darrell Steinberg, California Senate President pro Tem, leader of the majority party in the California State Senate, representing the capital city of Sacramento in the California Legislature since 1998
Carol Pogash, regular New York Times contributor
Is 2016 the right year for marijuana legalization ballot initiatives?
Two petitions to gather signatures for a November ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in California have fizzled out since the beginning of this year.
Although California marijuana legalization advocates were pushing to collect signatures in time, funding and enthusiasm fell short. Instead, pro-pot groups have decided to wait until the 2016 election to put a measure on the ballot. Public opinion on marijuana is constantly shifting, and the U.S. has already seen two states, Colorado and Washington, legalize recreational use of the drug.
In California, support for taxed, recreational marijuana is growing, and advocates say that the broader turnout and younger electorate expected in the 2016 Presidential election is more likely to result in changes to California marijuana laws.
Is 2016 the right year for marijuana legalization in California? How might opinions or finances change in the next two years? Why did pro-marijuana groups back off from intended initiatives in 2014?
Guest:
Peter Hecht, senior writer at the Sacramento Bee and author of “Weed Land: Inside America’s Marijuana Epicenter and How Pot Went Legit” (University of California Press, 2014)
Can Lakers new power forward Julius Randle help the team rebuild?
The Lakers selected Julius Randle yesterday in the first round of the NBA Draft, while the Clippers, with the 28th overall pick, nabbed CJ Wilcox.
The 19-year-old Randle averaged 15.0 points on 50 percent shooting and 10.4 rebounds in his freshman season for the University of Kentucky.
Wilcox, a shooting guard from the University of Washington, averaged 14.4 points on 43.3 percent shooting from the field, 38.9 percent from three-point range, over his four-year career.
Are Randle and Wilcox good picks for the L.A. teams? How do certain picks complement certain teams?
Guest:
A. Martinez, co-host of Take Two
Filmweek: Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, They Came Together, Begin Again and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson and Tim Cogshell review this week’s releases, including Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, and more. TGI-Filmweek!
Transformers 4: Age of Extinction:
They Came Together:
Begin Again:
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and LA Weekly
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Alt FilmGuide